Centre-NSCN (IM) talks begin todayNew Delhi, January 19The crucial round of talks between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) begin here tommorow to discuss various contentious issues, including the creation of “Greater Nagaland”.

Musharraf may be toppled soon: ZardariNew Delhi, January 19Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf might be toppled “any time, any day”, Asif Ali
Zardari, the jailed husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said while accusing the military ruler of helping the Islamist alliance Muthahida
Majlis-e Amal in the recent parliamentary elections.

Cong eyeing 200 seats in Lok Sabha pollNew Delhi, January 19
The Congress would aim to secure a minimum of 200 Lok Sabha seats in the Parliamentary elections to be held next year and is willing to share power at the Centre with the secular regional parties, highly-placed party sources said here today.

BJP to fight Oppn on HindutvaNew Delhi,
January 19BJP President Venkaiah Naidu today asserted that his party
was against religion-based politics but said the party would counter
the vicious campaign of the Congress and the Left Parties against its
Hindutva ideology.

A woman feeds pigeons on a cold morning in New Delhi's old quarter
on Sunday. The intense cold spell has claimed at least 62 more lives, officials said on Sunday.
—Reuters

Hindi poetry loses a gemDehra Dun, January 19Harivansh Rai Bachchan dreaded the uncertainty of death, but when he adapted the Shakespearean tragedy “Macbeth” for a Hindi play, Lady Macbeth was played by his wife.Teji Bachchan, his second wife performed the role of Lady Macbeth who meets with a tragic end.

BSF jawans ride on camels during a rehearsal for the "Beating the Retreat" ceremony, which marks the end of the annual Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi
on Sunday. The ceremony symbolises a retreat after a day on the battlefield. India's Republic Day falls on January 26.

Kashmiri migrants shout
anti-Pakistan slogans while brandishing a torch during a
demonstration in New Delhi on Sunday. The migrants, who are in
the 12th year of their exile from the Kashmir region due to
militancy, held the protest against Pakistan who they charge
with instigating insurgency in the region. — Reuters photos

VHP accuses Mufti govt of treasonNew Delhi, January 19The VHP today accused the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led government of “treason”, saying the ruling coalition was releasing dreaded militants in the name of giving a “healing touch” to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Hi-tech security for ParliamentNew Delhi, January 19A year after the audacious terrorist strike on it, a Rs 100 crore hi-tech security system is being installed in Parliament House to prevent such attacks. The introduction of laser-sensitive identity cards and vehicle number plates is under consideration.

Mobile phone services restoredNew Delhi, January 19
Mobile phone services were restored here today after a disruption of more than 48 hours with all links with the private cell operators and state-owned MTNL being connected by the afternoon.

7 pilgrims die in
ropeway mishapVadodara, January 19Seven pilgrims have been killed in a ropeway accident today on the famous Pavagarh hills, about 40 km from
Godhra, in Panchmahal district. Twenty pilgrims are still stranded mid-air in nearly four ropeway cars. Army helicopters have been requisitioned to undertake the rescue operations.

Universe ‘growing colder’Chennai, January 19The earth might be warming but the universe is growing colder, says a Nobel laureate who won the prize for his research when he was just 24.
“The universe is expanding and the pace of expansion is forever accelerating. The expansion of the universe is becoming
faster and faster.

Salman summoned to court tomorrowMumbai, January 19Filmstar Salman Khan has been summoned by a magistrate to appear before the court on January 21 in a hit-and-run case with a warning that his absence will compel the court to issue a non-bailable warrant against him.

Sanjay to appear in court todayMumbai, January 19Mumbai blasts accused filmstar Sanjay Dutt and 87 others will depose before the special TADA court on their regular date of appearance here tomorrow.

Karunanidhi
hits back at JayaChennai, January 19DMK President M. Karunanidhi today criticised Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa for attacking him on the late M.G. Ramachandran’s birth anniversary.

‘Bollywood Hollywood’ nominatedNew Delhi, January 19Bhuvan’s eleven in Aamir Khan’s ‘Lagaan’ may have missed the Oscars by a narrow margin last year, but that has not deterred filmmaker Deepa Mehta to make a strong bid for the Canadian version of the Oscars with her spoof on Mumbai cinema “Bollywood Hollywood.”

Video

Poor
people in Orissa continue to starve with welfare programmes run by
the state government falling flat on the ground. (28k,
56k)

New Delhi, January 19
The crucial round of talks between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) begin here tommorow to discuss various contentious issues, including the creation of “Greater Nagaland”.

After the first round of deliberations NSCN (IM) chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah will meet government officials here to work on further details. The two, earlier to leave India on January 20 after a 12-day stay, are now expected to stay here till January 24 to work further on the initial round of talks.

During this round of talks, the two Naga leaders are also expected to take up the important issue of enlargement of Article 371 (A) of the Indian Constitution to accommodate various demands of Nagaland. The state enjoys special status under this Article.

Success of these talks is expected to have a major impact on other insurgent groups in the North-East. Though no accord is likely to be signed immediately, the talks will provide a major boost to restoring peace in Nagaland.

Meanwhile, the Centre is all set to appoint a political negotiator for the Naga talks. Among the frontrunners, Defence Minister George Fernandes has an edge over North-East Development and Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie.

The Naga leaders had also met former Prime Ministers V.P. Singh and H.D. Deve Gowda and other opposition leaders, who had urged the Centre to convene an all-party meeting to resolve the vexed issue.

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, who had been acting as a facilitator in the Naga peace process, also met the Naga leaders.

Mr Zoramthanga had said the two leaders were satisfied with the preparatory round of talks. The Mizoram Chief Minister had earlier visited Bangkok to hold talks with Mr Muivah and Mr Swu.

The NSCN (IM) leaders had described the present Indian leadership as “mature” and “realistic”. The leaders had said the NSCN (IM) would not interfere in the February 26 Assembly elections in
Nagaland. Both sides said the talks so far had been positive and progressing in the right direction.

New Delhi, January 19
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf might be toppled “any time, any day”, Asif Ali Zardari, the jailed husband of former
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said while accusing the military ruler of helping the Islamist alliance Muthahida Majlis-e Amal in the recent parliamentary elections.

General Musharraf could be overthrown in a “week or a month” or “even tomorrow”, he said.

Asked how long General Musharraf’s rule would last, he said “God knows: He will decide the fate of Musharraf. I am sure that he will not win the battle between the Establishment and the democratic forces and very soon you will see the drop scene”.

“I am not an astrologer to predict how long his (Musharraf) government will last but as a political person I see it going,” Zardari, who was imprisoned for the past six years on charges of corruption, he said.

“I cannot give a time period but it could even be tomorrow. It is crystal clear that this government shall not complete its term”, he told Pakistan’s internet weekly South Asia Tribune.

“Dictator Musharraf’s government is lasting because of the situation created after 9/11 and therefore his exit depends on what the world thinks, especially about democracy.”

The interview was conducted on January 16 in Rawalpindi while he was attending court proceedings in connection with the cases instituted against him.
PTI

New Delhi, January 19
The Congress would aim to secure a minimum of 200 Lok Sabha seats in the Parliamentary elections to be held next year and is willing to share power at the Centre with the secular regional parties, highly-placed party sources said here today.

The sources, who contribute political inputs to the party’s decision-making process and are against the politics of pre-poll coalitions, said the party would not allow the 1999 situation — when it could not form the government after the fall of the Vajpayee regime — to repeat itself.

The sources contended that attempts to form an alternate government failed not because the Congress was unwilling to share power with the Samajwadi Party or the AIADMK but because these parties sought its support for a third front government to be headed by Mr Jyoti Basu.

When the Congress reaches the magic figure, the BJP’s tally will automatically reduce to 100 seats as the two main parties are virtually locked in a straight contest for nearly 300 Lok Sabha seats in the country.

The party realises that it can not dramatically improve its prospects in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu even with its pre-poll alliances.

Regional parties, the sources said, have tasted the power at the Centre since 1996 were not willing to swap Lok Sabha with the Assembly seats as they had done in the past.

Much water has flown in the Cauvery since the Congress used to have successful arrangements with either the DMK or the AIADMK and cornered two-thirds of the Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu.

“We were offered two Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu by the AIADMK during the last poll,” the sources said, adding that the plight may be the same even if the party forged a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh or the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.

The Congress will have a fresh look at the poll strategy adopted in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi where it had performed well in the Assembly elections but could not replicate it in the Lok Sabha. The prospects for the party are improving on their own in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Haryana. There may not be any major changes in Assam or Karnataka, the sources said.

Taking into account the party’s performance since the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, the sources said rock bottom for the party is 140 Lok Sabha seats. The 112 seats which the Congress secured in 1999 Lok Sabha elections is an aberration, they contended.

The national party that was in power on its own for over three decades has remained sceptical of running coalition governments at the Centre though it has been doing it comfortably in Kerala since 1970s.

Another problem is that for most of the regional parties such as the Akali Dal, the Telugu Desam, the Asom Gana Parishad and the Left parties, the Congress is the principle political rival at the state level, they said.

Its stand on coalition governments at the Centre underwent a change after the recent Gujarat Assembly elections when it said it was prepared for a tie-up with the secular parties to defeat the BJP in the states as well as at the Centre.

The party’s hardline stance on participation in a coalition government at the Centre came out at the Pachmarhi conclave in 1998 when it decided that coalitions will be considered only when absolutely necessary, and that too on the basis of agreed programmes which will not weaken the party or compromise on its ideology.

The Bangalore plenary session, held two years later, adopted a softer line that the party is prepared to enter into an appropriate coalition or electoral alliance on the basis of mutual understanding but would not compromise its basic ideology.

In an attempt to confuse the regional parties, the Congress reiterated at the Delhi AICC meeting held last year that it will act within the parameters set at the Pachmarhi and Bangalore plenary sessions in this regard.
UNI

New Delhi,
January 19
BJP President Venkaiah Naidu today asserted that his party
was against religion-based politics but said the party would counter
the vicious campaign of the Congress and the Left Parties against its
Hindutva ideology.

Addressing the concluding function of the two-day
National Executive of the BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha here, Mr Naidu
said, “We do not want politics on the basis of religion. We favour
Hindutva which is not a narrow religious concept but has a broader
cultural connotation. It is the same as ‘Bharatiyata’ or
Indianness. It aims to preserve our 5,000-year-old value system,
tradition and lifestyle. Hindutva is accommodative and
all-inclusive.

The BJP President said the Congress and other
Opposition parties have launched a tirade against the party, saying
that it was favouring only Hindus. He, however, pointed that “the
BJP wanted to take all along”.

Mr Naidu asked the party leaders to
reach out to the masses and present the BJP as a “Mini Bharat (small
India)’’ with representation from all castes and religion.

He
asked them to launch a membership drive with special emphasis on women
and Dalit workers.

Accusing the Congress leaders of painting the BJP
as a demon, Mr Naidu said after the party’s victory in the Gujarat
poll, they have changed their tune.

He said there is a ‘Rama Marg
in Thailand’, named after its King, Rama the ninth. That country has
‘Bank of Ayodhya’, its currency has Ganesha’s image and another
bank’s name is Kubera Bank while Indonesia has Garuda Airlines.

“But in India, pseudo-secular people would prefer to name after
‘Gadha’ (donkey) instead of Rama and Kuber, who are part of our
ancient heritage, on the ground that it would weaken secularism. They
want us to forget our history, culture and tradition, which the BJP is
opposed to.”

Dehra Dun, January 19
Harivansh Rai Bachchan dreaded the uncertainty of death, but when he adapted the Shakespearean tragedy “Macbeth” for a Hindi play, Lady Macbeth was played by his wife.

Teji Bachchan, his second wife performed the role of Lady Macbeth who meets with a tragic end. In fact, when his first wife Shyama died in 1936, it sent him into a creative stupor for over a year. He was released from personal grief only after his marriage to Teji in 1942.

In his famous collection of poems titled “Madhushala”, he expressed his reluctance to join the world of the dead. Comparing life to death, he wrote: ‘’Is paar priyay tum ho, madhu
hai, us paar na jaane kya hoga.’’

This line captured the poet’s love for life and his dread of the uncertainty that follows death. The fear of the unknown world where man goes into after his death.

After the death of
Shyama, he wrote “Nisha Nimantran”, a release for the pent-up sorrow. The last work of this phase was “Aakul Antar”.

Dr Bachchan was interestingly a professor not of Hindi but of English literature. He taught English at Allahabad University from 1941 to 1952. In 1952, he went to Cambridge to do his doctorate on the Irish poet W.B. Yeats. He had begun his career as a court reporter with The Pioneer in the 1930s.

From 1956 to 1972, he worked in the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi. It was during this phase that he translated “Macbeth”, “Hamlet”, “Othello” and “King Lear” for the Hindi stage. “Macbeth” and “Othello” were staged in Delhi.

Dr Bachchan and Teji won wide acclaim during their younger days as a singing duo at literary meets. Their mellifluous voices and a fine sense of rhythm brought out the true lyrical beauty of Dr Bachchan’s poetry.

For Dr Bachchan, poetry was always a necessity of life. A poem titled “Lahron ka Nimantran” manifests the poet’s desire to give himself up completely to an intense emotional experience crossing the confines of reality.

Dr Bachchan laid bare his entire personal and creative life in his four-volume autobiography which has itself become a classic in Indian literature. The titles of the volumes are like titles of his poems — “Kya bhoolun kya yaad karoon”, “Neer ka nirman phir”, “Basere se door” and “Dashdwar se sopan tak”.

Till 1981, Dr Bachchan visited Dehra Dun several times to attend poetic gatherings and call on his friends living here. Doon has had the proud privilege of hosting kavi sammelans attended by Mr Bachchan and Gopaldas “Neeraj”, another famous Hindi poet who lives in Aligarh.

Dr Bachchan believed that the true worth of a poet lay in the extent to which he could stir the hearts and minds of his readers or listeners, involving them in his experience.
UNI

New Delhi, January 19
The VHP today accused the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led government of “treason”, saying the ruling coalition was releasing dreaded militants in the name of giving a “healing touch” to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

VHP Delhi unit general secretary Rampratap Singh said Mr Sayeed got the power by “sympathising with militants”. “In the name of giving a healing touch he is releasing dreaded militants from jail by proclaiming them as innocent,” he said.

“We had expected the situation to improve after the elections. But the Mufti-led government is creating terror among Hindus in the Kashmir valley, which will help Pakistan-sponsored terrorists to convert the valley into an Islamic state,” he claimed.

Condemning the recent reported directive to Hindu doctors to leave Kashmir, he said, ‘’this anti-national act has created an atmosphere of concern and anxiety in the entire country. This is just an indication of things to come.’’

The VHP leader also charged the Congress, a coalition partner of the government, with complete surrendering to get power in the state.
UNI

New Delhi, January 19
A year after the audacious terrorist strike on it, a Rs 100 crore hi-tech security system is being installed in Parliament House to prevent such attacks. The introduction of laser-sensitive identity cards and vehicle number plates is under consideration.

The proposed three-tier system would include an upgraded closed-circuit television network covering the entire premises and jammers at selected places. The security inside Parliament House, however, will remain with the Watch and the Ward. informed sources said today.

Special devices are expected to be put in place at the outer gates of Parliament that could be activated to halt a speeding vehicle from entering the precints.

Vehicles other than those of the Prime Minister and other VVIPs would be inspected manually after they enter the premises. Security was tightened after the December 13, 2001, terrorist attack on Parliament and vehicle entry regulated to stall any unauthorised entry.
TNS

New Delhi, January 19
Mobile phone services were restored here today after a disruption of more than 48 hours with all links with the private cell operators and state-owned MTNL being connected by the afternoon.

As the services to the mobile phones were restored the cellular operators also sought a meeting with Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan who will return after a week-long visit to Egypt and South Africa. The cellular phone operators would apparently brief him about the situation and seek his intervention to work out a solution to the ongoing tussle between them and the WLL operators and the TRAI on one side.

Hutch official Harit Nagpal said all links are up. Services both ways incoming as well as outgoing have been normalised, he said. Air Tel Chief of mobility operations, Anil Nayar, also said services had been restored 100 per cent.

Cellular operators said they were trying to contact Mr Mahajan’s office for an early meeting.

The ongoing tussle between the cellular operators and the basic telecom players over interconnectivity had intensified with the MTNL allegedly blocking all calls from mobile phones to fixed lines. The charge was, however, refuted by the MTNL.

Incidentally, the contentious issue of interconnectivity between cell operators and the basic players offering WLL-based limited mobile services is also coming up for hearing before the telecom tribunal TDSAT tomorrow.

The cell operators had earlier defied the TRAI’s directive on the interconnectivity deadline whereby they were also issued showcause notices which are expiring tomorrow morning.

Vadodara, January 19
Seven pilgrims have been killed in a ropeway accident today on the famous Pavagarh hills, about 40 km from
Godhra, in Panchmahal district. Twenty pilgrims are still stranded mid-air in nearly four ropeway cars. Army helicopters have been requisitioned to undertake the rescue operations.

The police said the accident occurred at around noon when five of the ropeway trolleys, each having a capacity of ferrying six persons, fell on the ground when the wire carrying them snapped. The pilgrims had gone to the Mahakali temple atop the Pavagarh hills.

The injured are being shifted to the SSG Hospital in
Vadodra. Senior district officials, including Superintendent of Police Narsinh Kumar, had rushed to the spot. The ropeway connects the ground station at Machhi with the Mahakali Temple located about 500 m from the ground.
UNI

Chennai, January 19
The earth might be warming but the universe is growing colder, says a Nobel laureate who won the prize for his research when he was just 24.

“The universe is expanding and the pace of expansion is forever accelerating. The expansion of the universe is becoming faster and faster. The universe is destined to grow colder as it expands,” said Dutch physicist Gerard ‘t Hooft while addressing a packed gathering at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences here.

The theme of his lecture was the “dark forces of the universe in space and time”. The physicist from the Utrecht University is in India at the invitation of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research for a fellowship programme. This is his second visit to the institute. He had last come here nearly 10 years ago. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1999 along with his research guide Martinus Veltman for the work he did in 1970 — when he was 24. The duo received the award for their work on the forces surrounding the particles of an atom.

And on Saturday, Mr Gerard ‘t Hooft explained to the greying dons and school students the concepts of “the universe inside an atom” with a graphic presentation interjected with wit. The physicist took his audience on a guided tour of how particles were discovered and how these particles worked.
IANS

Mumbai, January 19
Filmstar Salman Khan has been summoned by a magistrate to appear before the court on January 21 in a hit-and-run case with a warning that his absence will compel the court to issue a non-bailable warrant against him.

Magistrate S Y Sishode will give his ruling on January 21 on the actor’s plea for the return of the vehicle which rammed into a bakery on September 28 last year killing one person and injuring four others. On the same day, the court will refer the case to the sessions court for trial. The actor has been asked to appear without fail on January 21.

Opposing Salman’s plea, prosecutor Rajan Khandekar had argued that a magistrate did not have powers to decide on returning property involved in a mishap as he was presiding over a remand court.

He said the car was a valuable piece of evidence as it had dashed against a wall and its bonnet was smashed due to the impact.
PTI

Mumbai, January 19
Mumbai blasts accused filmstar Sanjay Dutt and 87 others will depose before the special TADA court on their regular date of appearance here tomorrow.

TADA Judge P. D. Kode is trying the accused in connection with the blasts which rocked the metropolis on March 12, 1993.

The court will also hear arguments of the defence advocate on the bail plea of accused Pervez Zulfikar Qureshi. Qureshi was granted interim bail on three occasions in the past two years. On all three occasions, he had surrendered before the court at the end of his interim bail period.
UNI

Chennai, January 19
DMK President M. Karunanidhi today criticised Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa for attacking him on the late M.G. Ramachandran’s birth anniversary. In a statement here, Mr Karunanidhi accused her of using the names of stalwarts such as C.N. Annadurai, Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy and M.G. Ramachandran to conceal the truth regarding various issues in an article, penned by her in a souvenir released on the occasion of the former Chief Minister’s birth anniversary.

Referring to Ms Jayalalithaa’s justification for enacting the Anti-conversion Act , he said it was untrue.
UNI

New Delhi, January 19
Bhuvan’s eleven in Aamir Khan’s ‘Lagaan’ may have missed the Oscars by a narrow margin last year, but that has not deterred filmmaker Deepa Mehta to make a strong bid for the Canadian version of the Oscars with her spoof on Mumbai cinema “Bollywood Hollywood .”

“Bollywood Hollywood”, which is already making waves in the West with its brilliant music, has now been nominated in no less than seven categories, including the best film award, at the prestigious Genie awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars. The final winners of the awards are to be announced on February 13.
UNI

NATIONAL BRIEFS

FORMER BAJRANG DAL
LEADER KILLED
AHMEDABAD: A former Bajrang Dal leader was stoned to death by some members of a minority community over “personal rivalry” in Surat, leading to tension in the city, the police said on Sunday. One person had been arrested. The attackers cornered former Bajrang Dal leader Ganesh Solanki, who reportedly had some personal
enmity with the accused, and killed him.
PTI

CURFEW LIFTED IN GANJBASODAVIDISHA (M.P): With peace returning to Ganjbasoda town of the district, curfew was lifted on Saturday night, official sources said. The decision to lift curfew was taken as no untoward incidents were reported during the day.
PTI

REBEL BJP MLC'S HOUSES RAIDED
LUCKNOW: In yet another police action against rebel legislators, the police raided the residences of a BJP MLC Ajit Singh here on Saturday night. The raids were in connection with an attempted murder case.
UNI

KISHEN KUMAR TO DEPOSE AS WITNESS
MUMBAI: Kishen Kumar, actor and brother of the late the audio king Gulshan Kumar, has been summoned as witness in the ongoing trial pertaining to the alleged bollywood nexus with the underworld even as the Mumbai High Court will hear on Monday two petitions filed by accused Bharat Shah, challenging an act and urging modification of charges framed against him.
PTI